Greetings, all.
Just perusing Storey's Guide again, and the paragraph that grabbed my attention was a warning that for young (12 to 22 weeks old) ducks, that increasing daylight hours could cause them to begin to lay before their little bodies are ready, which could affect their ability to lay the rest of their lives (reduce production).
I am not trying to break any production records. I plan on using natural light, letting the ducks lay when they will, not pushing them.
But they are going to be seven weeks old in a couple of days, which puts them at the critical age as the days are getting longer.
I suspect that everything is going to be fine, by the way. Just wanted to hear from people whose ducklings hatched the last part of February or first part of March, and whether they had any issues with egg laying, production, duck's health or so forth.
My guess is that they will begin laying some time in July, perhaps as early as June.
BTW, the duck house is nearly finished.
It is a 4' x 8', 4' high box with a slanted roof that is 5' at one end dropping to the 4' level on the north side. The space between the wall tops and roof will be covered with half inch hardware cloth (that is the "nearly" part). At the south end is a sliding door and the side has a nice 3' wide (what I call Dutch) door so I can peak in without letting anyone out, or open both sections and get in or clean out. The roof is Sun-Tuf, clear down the middle (2' wide) , with smoke colored panels on the outside edges.
Just perusing Storey's Guide again, and the paragraph that grabbed my attention was a warning that for young (12 to 22 weeks old) ducks, that increasing daylight hours could cause them to begin to lay before their little bodies are ready, which could affect their ability to lay the rest of their lives (reduce production).
I am not trying to break any production records. I plan on using natural light, letting the ducks lay when they will, not pushing them.
But they are going to be seven weeks old in a couple of days, which puts them at the critical age as the days are getting longer.
I suspect that everything is going to be fine, by the way. Just wanted to hear from people whose ducklings hatched the last part of February or first part of March, and whether they had any issues with egg laying, production, duck's health or so forth.
My guess is that they will begin laying some time in July, perhaps as early as June.
BTW, the duck house is nearly finished.
